tions making by the townsmen for his entry into Rouen were ready. During this interval, a great quarrel arose between the duke of Brittany and the count de Dammartin, when it was told to the duke of Normandy, that the two said lords intended to arrest and carry him into Brittany. Sir John de Lorraine, hearing of this, went instantly to the town-house in Rouen, when the magistrates ordered the inhabitants under arms; and sir John led a numerous body of them to St. Catherine's on the Mount, where admittance was at first refused him; but sir John, in despite of the duke of Brittany and the count de Dammartin, and without much ceremony, made the new duke mount a horse, that had a saddle, indeed, but no housings, and in this simple state, with only a black velvet robe on, led him through the town of Rouen to the church of Our Lady, where "Te Deum laudamus was chanted, and thence to the castle of Rouen.

While the king resided at Orleans, he made many ordinances and regulations for the better government of the realm, and displaced several of his captains. Among the rest, he took from Poncet de Riviere the command of a hundred lances, but made him bailiff of Montferrant; and he acted thus to many others. Poncet de Riviere, on losing his command, went on a voyage to Jerusalem, and thence to St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai. The king reappointed the lord de Lohéac marshal of France, in the place of the count de Cominges, bastard of Armagnac. Having done this, the king left Orleans, and marched his whole army, his franc-archers and his artillery, great and small, into Normandy, by way of Argentan, Eynes, Falaise, Caen, and other places, to gain possession of them. At the last town he met the duke of Brittany, and they were together for some time. The duke of Bourbon, in consequence of the king's orders, had entered another part of Normandy, and came before Evreux, which would not surrender on his first summons; but the garrison afterward capitulated, and the duke and his men were admitted into the town. He thence advanced to Vernon on the Seine, which also demurred at first, but afterwards admitted him. Sir Charles de Melun, grand-master of the king's household, took possession of several towns in Normandy, such as Gisors, Gournay, and others: he also overthrew six score Scots, who were marching to the lord de Bueil† for the duke of Normandy,-which affair took place at a village, called Cailly, in the bailiwick of Caen.

At this time the lord d'Esternay was general of Normandy, but, for fear of the king's anger, he had fled from Rouen disguised as a cordelier friar, in company with an Augustin monk. They were met, however, by some of the men of the grand-master at Pont Saint Pierre, four leagues from Rouen, who taking them prisoners, they were afterwards searched, and much money and other precious effects found on them and seized. The new duke of Normandy had gone from Rouen to Louviers, expecting to meet the duke of Bourbon; but being disappointed, he instantly returned to Rouen,-when the principal persons conducted him to the town-house, and invested him with the duchy, by placing a ring (as was customary) on his finger, and he promised to preserve and defend all their rights and privileges. He, at the same time, reduced the taxes they had paid before his investiture to one-half, and the whole assembly of clergy, nobles, and populace swore obedience to him, and to support him, as his loyal subjects, to the last drop of their blood.

They then caused to be read to him aloud an extract from an old chronicle preserved in the town-house, which contained in substance, that there was formerly a king of France who left two sons on his decease, the eldest of whom succeeded to his throne, and the younger had for his appanage the duchy of Normandy, which his brother wanted to annex to his crown, and great wars ensued. The Normans; however, so successfully supported their duke, that the king was forced into exile, and the duke was crowned in his stead. After this had been read, they told him not to be uneasy at anything, for that henceforward the townsmen would supply him with so many engines of war, and other means of defence, that no harm should come to him or to their town.

* Q. John count of Harcourt, brother of Frederic † Lord de Bueil,-Anthony count of Sancerre. count of Vaudemont ?

CHAPTER CLIII.-THE KING OF FRANCE RECOVERS THE DUCHY OF NORMANDY FROM HIS BROTHER, CHARLES DUKE OF BERRY. THE LORD D'ESTERNAY IS DROWNED, AND SEVERAL OFFICERS IN NORMANDY ARE EXECUTED OR BANISHED. THE DUKE OF BERRY LEAVES NORMANDY.—AND SIR JOHN DE LORRAINE, THINKING TO FOLLOW HIM, IS MADE PRISONER AND CARRIED TO THE KING.

ON Monday, the last day but one of December, the king of France, returning from lower Normandy, came to Pont Audemer, and thence to la Champagne du Neufbourg, near Conches. He sent the duke of Bourbon to Louviers, and on the first of January, that town submitted to the duke of Bourbon for the king. This same day the king entered it in the afternoon, when the lord d'Esternay was brought him by the men of the grandmaster,—and he was immediately after drowned in the river Eure, and the Augustin monk with him, by the officer of the provost-marshal. The body of the lord d'Esternay was afterwards taken out of the river, and buried in the church of Our Lady at Louviers, where his obsequies were performed. At this period, very many officers of Normandy were executed or drowned by the provost-marshal, on account of their having interfered in the dissensions between the king and his brother. On the king's departure from Louviers, he laid siege to the town of Pont de l'Arche, four leagues distant from Rouen; and on the 6th of January it was proclaimed in Paris, that all purveyors, who had been accustomed to supply the army with provisions, should repair thither instantly with forage,—and, also, that the pioneers should make themselves ready to march from Pont de l'Arche on the morrow, under the command of sir Denis Giber, one of the four sheriffs of Paris who had been appointed to conduct them.

On the Wednesday, a detachment of the king's army, that had gone on a foraging party, took four-men-at arms belonging to the duke of Berry, but who had formerly belonged to the king. One was called le Petit Bailiff, and had been in the company of Joachim Rohault marshal of France, and an accomplice in the betraying Pontoise to the Bretons. When brought before the king, they were ordered to be beheaded instantly; but they offered, on their lives being spared, to cause Pont de l'Arche to be surrendered,—and as the duke of Bourbon and other lords seconded their offer, the king pardoned them. This same day the king entered Pont de l'Arche with his army, the garrison having retreated from the town into the castle: among them was master John Hebert, superintendant of the French finances. Three days after, the castle likewise surrendered to the king.

In consequence of these surrenders to the king, the town of Rouen sent a deputation to request a conference; which deputation laid everything that had been done amiss to the charge of the dukes of Brittany and Bourbon. Their commissioners at the conferenee made several requests and remonstrances, insisting, among other things, that the king should declare himself satisfied with them, notwithstanding any acts to the contrary, and that he would not only grant them his full pardon, but similar franchises to those he had lately granted to Paris. They made many other demands, to all of which the king said he would consider on them. While this was going on, several of the king's army passed and repassed into the town without interruption.

The duke of Berry, in the meantime, quitted Rouen, in company with several of his friends, and went to Honfleur and Caen, where he remained some time. John lord of Lorraine thought also to escape into Flanders; but he was met by a party of the king's army, who made him prisoner, and brought him to the king. On the departure of the duke of Berry, the town of Rouen surrendered to the king, who, having displaced the greater part of the officers in Normandy, appointed others in their places. He disbanded his francarchers, giving them leave of absence until the first day of the ensuing month of March, and sent back his artillery to Paris: he himself took the road toward lower Normandy, and to St. Michael's Mount.

At this time, Anthony de Chabannes, count de Dammartin, (of whom mention has been often made,) accompanied the king, and had the command of one hundred lances of the gensd'armes, which sir Charles de Melun had before had. The king also deprived sir Charles of

his office of grand-master of the household, and gave it to the lord de Craon, although many persons were of opinion that sir Charles had well served the king, and done him many considerable services; more especially by his great prudence and activity in the guard of Paris, while the king was absent in the Bourbonnois; for it was observed, that had he not been as diligent as he was, the king and kingdom would have suffered much more. While the king was thus employed, he made an exchange with the count de Dammartin for a castle he had in Gascony called Blancaffort; for which he gave him in sovereignty, all the rights and royalties in the towns of Gonesse, Gournay-sur-Marne, and Crecy in Brie; and gave orders for his parliament to annex them, in perpetuity, to his said county of Dammartin. At this same time, the king commanded that the fortress of Chaumont-sur-Loire, which belonged to sir Pierre d'Amboise, lord of Chaumont, should be set on fire, and razed to the ground, which was done.

Monday, the 4th of February, Gauvain Manniel, who had been lieutenant-general of the bailiff of Rouen, was arrested in that town, and carried prisoner to Pont de l'Arche: where, by orders of the marshals, a scaffold had been erected, on which the said Gauvain was beheaded for certain crimes laid to his charge. His head was placed on a lance on the said bridge, and his body thrown into the river Seine. At the same time, the dean of the cathedral of Rouen and six of the canons were expelled the town, and banished out of the duchy of Normandy.

CHAPTER CLIV.-THE KING OF FRANCE SETS OUT FROM ROUEN TO ORLEANS.-HE SENDS AMBASSADORS TO ENGLAND.-SEVERAL MALEFACTORS ARE EXECUTED AT PARIS.THE DIVORCE OF SIR WILLIAM COLOMBEL FROM HIS WIFE. THE LORD DU LAU IS MADE PRISONER.-THE KING PUBLISHES AN EDICT AT PARIS AGAINST THE ENGLISH. -A TRUCE CONCLUDED BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.-MANY PERSONS LOSE THEIR SENSES AT PARIS, AT THE BEAN-FLOWERING SEASON.

*

THE king now departed from Rouen for Orleans, where the queen was, and remained there a long time, making excursions to Gergeau and in that neighbourhood. While he was at Orleans, many embassies came to him from divers countries, on different matters. He also there determined to send an embassy to England, and selected for this purpose the count de Roussillon, bastard of Bourbon and admiral of France, the lord de la Barde, the duke-bishop of Langres, master John de Poupaincourt, lord of Cercelles, master Olivier le Roy, counsellor in the chamber of accounts, and others, who set out for England in April, in the year 1466.

At this time, the officers of justice in Paris arrested many poor creatures, thieves and other malefactors; some of whom, for their crimes, were hanged on the gibbet at Montfaucon, and others, less criminal, were whipped at a cart's-tail through the streets of Paris. At this time also, the damsel Isabeau de Cambray, wife to sir William de Colombel, a rich and powerful man, was confined a prisoner in the Conciergerie of the palais-royal at Paris, on the complaint and information of her husband, who charged her with the three following crimes: first, that she had abandoned him and been faithless to his bed; secondly, that she had robbed him of large sums of money; and, thirdly, that she had compounded divers poisons to compass his death. In consequence of these charges, she was long detained in prison, and put to the torture, to make her confess her guilt. At length, the court of parliament, having taken full cognizance of the evidence and her confession, declared that the said Colombel had sufficiently proved his accusations; and she was sentenced to be deprived of all community of effects and of her dower. With regard to the poisons, she pleaded an error in the suit, and paid into court six score livres parisis, as her pledge for re-appearing.

The 10th day of May, in this year, sir Anthony de Châteauneuf lord du Lau, who had had the king's pardon some time since, on certain conditions, was accidentally met by the lord de Chabesnais, and others, in the plains of Clery, near Orleans; and because that he and his

Gergeau, or Jargeau, an ancient town, four leagues from Orleans.

attendants were disguised, they made him a prisoner, and carried him before the king, who ordered him and his people to be confined in a castle near Mehun *. On Wednesday, the eve of the Ascension of our Lord, master John Prevost, notary and secretary to the king, entered the Bastile, by the king's direction, in a subtle manner, and took thence one called Mare, who was lieutenant to the lord des Bordes, and lately married to the natural daughter of sir Charles de Melun, son to the lord des Bordes †. On Saturday, the eve of Whitsunday, was proclaimed through all the squares of Paris, with sound of trumpet, a summons from the constable of France, which included one from the king, to declare that he had received information of his ancient enemies the English having raised a very numerous army for the destruction of his kingdom; and that they had prepared a fleet, accordingly, to invade his coasts; that the king, being resolved to oppose such wicked attempts to the utmost of his power, had ordered his constable to make proclamation thereof in the usual places throughout the realm, that all the noble tenants of the king, as well those of fief as of arriere-fief, of whatever rank, might be properly prepared with arms, horses, and habiliments for war, on the 15th day of June next ensuing, under pain of corporal punishment and confiscation of effects. All franc-archers and others were, at the same time, ordered to be ready by the said 15th day of June.

The king displaced at this time the lord des Bordes from being governor of the Bastile of St. Anthony at Paris, and gave it to the lord de Bloc, seneschal of Auvergne, who was said to be a man of an excellent character. At this period, the lord de Montauban, who had been admiral of France, grand-master of woods and waters, and the principal cause of the disturbances in Brittany, which were followed by those in France, and who had received immense sums of the public money, died at Tours, and was not much lamented. After his death, the king gave the office of lord high admiral to the lord bastard of Bourbon, who had married his natural daughter, and the office of grand-master of woods and waters to the lord de Châtillon, brother to the marshal of Lohéac.

A truce was now concluded by sea and land with England for twenty-two months, which was everywhere publicly proclaimed. At this time, for some particular cause, the king was moved to displace the count du Maine from his government of Languedoc, and give the same to the bastard of Bourbon, who also received, in consequence of his marriage with Jeanne, the king's natural daughter, the castle and town of Usson § in Auvergne, said to be the strongest place in the kingdom, together with the government of Honfleur, and other places in Normandy.

In the month of June of this year, 1466, the beans were very abundant and good, nevertheless very many persons of both sexes lost their senses at this time in Paris. In the number was a young man named master Marcial d'Auvergne ||, an attorney in the court of parliament, and notary to the Châtelet. He had been married about three weeks to one of the daughters of master Jacques Fournier, king's counsel in the said court of parliament, and lost his senses in such wise that, about nine in the morning of St. John the Baptist's day, his frenzy seized him, and he threw himself out of the window into the street, broke his thigh, and so bruised his body that he was long in the utmost danger, for his frenzy continued a long time; but at length he recovered.

There are three Mehuns,-sur Loire, sur Indre, sur Yevre. The first place of his confinement was Sully-surLoire, from whence he was removed to the castle of Usson in Auvergne. He was afterwards restored to favour, and made governor of Roussillon.

Philip de Melun, lord des Bordes, was governor of the Bastile, and father of Charles de Melun, the grandmaster before-mentioned. Both father and son were involved in the same disgrace. But the former, more fortunate in being less elevated, was only dismissed from

his office, while the latter was soon afterwards brought to the scaffold. The government of the Bastile was now committed to Hugh de Chavigny, seigneur de Bloc.

The lord de Montauban was of the house of Rohan; had followed the king, when dauphin, to Flanders, -was much beloved and regretted by him, but not by the people.

§ Usson,-four leagues from Brionde.

Marcial d'Auvergne-was the author of the Arresta Amorum, and several pieces now become very scarce.

CHAPTER CLV.-THE KING SENDS COMMISSIONERS TO MAKE REFORMS AT PARIS.-THEIR PAGES AND THE CLERKS OF THE PALACE QUARREL.-A MURDEROUS WAR BETWEEN THE LIEGEOIS AND THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.-A GREAT MORTALITY IN PARIS AND ITS ENVIRONS.-THE KING APPOINTS CERTAIN LORDS FOR THE GUARD AND DEFENCE OF HIS REALM.-EVENTS THAT HAPPENED AT PARIS IN THIS YEAR, MCCCCLXVI. In the month of July, many prelates, lords, knights, churchmen, and others of the king's council arrived at Paris, by the king's orders, as commissioners to inspect the courts of justice, and to reform whatever they should find irregular, having had very great powers given them for the purpose. They were twenty-one commissioners in all, and the lord John bastard of Orleans, count of Dunois and of Longueville, was their president; but no business could be transacted unless thirteen members were present, the count de Dunois being always one. They were called "the reformers of the public welfare," and opened their sittings on the 16th day of July; and, that their measures might be salutary, they commenced by hearing a fine mass to the Divine Spirit chanted in the Holy Chapel in the Palace at Paris. This was celebrated by Juvenel des Ursins, archbishop of Rheims, who had been chosen one of the commissioners. This day twelvemonth, the king met the count de Charolois at Montlehery.

On the morrow, some of the pages of the counsellors in the court of parliament, while waiting for their masters, sought a quarrel with the pages of these commissioners, and a great riot and noise ensued, because they had refused to pay their welcome-money at the Palace. This quarrel was renewed with more earnestness the next day, when their masters returned to the court, and proceeded at length to blows with fists, knives, and stones: so that many were much beaten and bruised, and some even had their eyes knocked out, and force was employed to separate them. Several said, that this was only done as an anniversary of the battle of Montlehery. This year was very moist, so that although the corn was good in some parts of France, in others it was spoiled and mildewed. There were many tempests, and storms of thunder and lightning, which did much damage in divers places of the kingdom, more particularly in the Soissonnois, where several houses were destroyed, churches unroofed, and infinite mischief was done to the vineyards and corn-fields.

A serious war now took place between the Liegeois and the duke of Burgundy, who, ɔn this occasion, resumed his arms, and advanced to his army carried in a litter, attended by his son the count de Charolois, with all his nobles, and the whole of his artillery. He began the campaign by laying siege to Dinant, as has been amply detailed in the chronicles of Monstrelet. The heat of the weather in the months of August and September, of this year, was so excessive that it brought on a great mortality in and about Paris, insomuch that more than forty thousand persons of both sexes died. In the number was master Arnoul, the king's astrologer, a very good kind of man, wise and pleasant. Several physicians and officers of the king died; and such numbers were buried in the churchyard of the Holy Innocents, and the great hospital being full of dead and dying, it was ordered that in future all buryings should be made in the churchyard of the Holy Trinity, which church was appertaining to the town-house of Paris. This mortality continued until the month of November. Public prayers were offered up to God that it might cease, and solemn general processions were made by the different parishes, in which were carried holy relics, and the shrines of saints, and even the shrines of Our Lady, of Saint Genevieve and Saint Marcel, when the number of deaths decreased some little.

At this period there were great alarms in Paris from the number of thieves and housebreakers, who did great mischiefs during the night. Some were arrested and whipped at a cart's tail, and others hanged for these crimes on the gibbet at Paris. In this year was hanged at Paris, a large Norman, a native of Coutantin, in Normandy, for having long cohabited with his own daughter, by whom he had several children, whom they put to death as soon as born. He was hanged, and she was burned at Maigny, near Pontoise, where they resided on quitting Normandy. The shrines of St. Crespin and St. Crespinian were now brought to